


If I lose, I lose (But I doubt you will let me)

by Shadowdianne



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-25 17:00:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18265586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowdianne/pseuds/Shadowdianne
Summary: Q-uan here asked for some cuteness. I couldn’t say no to her so… there, some fluff without the gritty details I tend to favor :POriginal idea: “l am dying for Season 7 Good Queen Regina to hustle Emma in a game of pool. She must still have some Roni edge from HH, right. I want her to flirt Emma to death and steal both her beer and her heart.”





	If I lose, I lose (But I doubt you will let me)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [quan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/quan/gifts).



> Note: I wrote this one under 40 minutes so any further editions will be done after I’m free from work today. Apologies for any glaring typo.  
> Small addition: italymystery-swanqueen created an amazing manip for this one. The link to it can be found below!

[ (x)](http://italymystery-swanqueen.tumblr.com/post/183804244700/if-i-lose-i-lose-but-i-doubt-you-will-let-me)

* * *

 

“I can’t believe you made me bet against you.”

Regina laughed at Emma’s obvious frustration as she walked around the pool table, cue stick dancing on her right hand. It was still early, early enough for the tables at Aesop’s to still be almost empty but the brunette could feel the eyes of a few patrons here and there, gazing curiously at both of them. The attention, while still something she was coming to terms after the coronation, made her preen even if only slightly.

It was a strange feeling she let herself enjoy in the same way Roni had loved to show her abilities as a bartender. Shrugging and juggling the stick from one hand to the other, she jumped and sat at the blinders, letting the cue stick dangle now from her fingers. It was a movement that she wouldn’t have done some time ago and she saw the surprise widening Emma’s eyes, but she merely let her smile widen; the freeing sensation of being her and not at the same time just as skin-buzzing the glances Emma had given her ever since she had entered into the pub had been.

 “You should know already that it’s better to never bet against me, Emma.”

She lowered her voice, not channeling her Queen days, the ones attached to a tittle that had been destroyed, but a more sincere one, one that she knew the blonde would recognize and as the blonde let out a half-hearted chuckle, long fingers clenching against her own cue stick and the beer she still had to finish, Regina tilted her head, drinking the other woman in.

If she squinted she would be able to see an even younger version of the blonde, one that had been seared into her memory no matter the many times curses had destroyed any recollection of what, who or why. The now re-found red leather jacket hung from a nearby chair, the zipper glinting under the pub’s dim lights but the loose fabric of an almost black tank top hugged Emma’s upper body. It was a wink maybe, a way of reconnecting with herself in the same way skin-tight jeans and high boots were but the brunette found herself enjoying the view. A view that, up until not so long ago, she wouldn’t have dared to look at twice.

She still felt unsure, of how far she would be able to push. Emma had walked into her home the night Hook had left: the echoes of a convoluted discussion haunting her eyes as she had asked Regina for something she hadn’t been granted ever since she had started to date the man; time. Regina had given it to her, shielding her from the probing questions Snow had fired at her the morning after. Standing proud, tall, she had refused to leave the blonde’s side and when asked by a far too knowingly Henry she had merely shaken her head and pretended that the now young man hadn’t seen and heard far too much when he had been younger.

And, while she would never push, seeing Emma as she slowly built herself back up had been intoxicating, magical, and something that had made her press her lips together and look elsewhere as her heart drummed inside her chest far too loudly, far too fast.

Over the years there had always been a tension, an unspoken deal and now that hung between them in tatters. She would never force that conversation to happen but tonight, in the middle of Aesop’s with the scent of beer and sweat there were far too many phantoms of a life Emma hadn’t seen her live for her to be able to keep still. She could feel Roni’s inner thoughts like tendrils, wrapping themselves around every thought that focused on the blonde who was still eyeing her, a flush on her cheeks and eyes greener than ever under the lights.

Crossing her legs by her ankles, she rose an eyebrow at the blonde woman as Emma’s magic crackled and jumped, the hold on the cue stick tightening, sparks fleeing from the woman’s fingers to the wood of the stick. There it was, Regina could see the moment in where a shadow of an idea took form at the back of the blonde’s eyes but, like it always did, the moment was lost, and the glimmer gone.

She didn’t let herself be disappointed by it. Not when Emma took a swig of her beer before placing it in dangerous equilibrium at her side of the table, the splotches of color that were the balls trembling a little as she moved closer to the edge. Not when the blonde allowed a smile to surface, the curls of her hair haloing her face as she rose her skin, proud as ever, as she bent over the table, stick sliding through her fingers as she tried to decide how to hit the elusive balls. When she spoke, there was a hint of taunting there, between the vowels, under the consonants, and Regina let herself enjoy that as much as Emma stole not so subtle glances at her.

“You are right, madam mayor, I should have known better.”

It was the inflection, the deliberate use of a title no one but her used anymore and Regina hummed at it, smirk in place as Emma breathed in and out only to raise the stick too high, the scrap on the table before it hit the ball one Regina winced at as it was obvious the blonde’s attention had definitely been elsewhere.

_“Oh, this is fun.”_

And it was. It was fun in a way they had never been able to enjoy before. It was fun in the same way Regina hadn’t had the opportunity to behave like this before and the brunette rose her free hand only to graze her collarbone through the low-cut shirt she wore. A compromise perhaps, between her usual style and Roni’s. The movement was, once again, followed by Emma’s eyes and the brunette nibbled her bottom lip before jumping to the floor once again.

“If you are going to try to best me.” She began, approaching the blonde’s side of the table, eyes dark and trimmed with purple as she let the reins on her magic slip just enough to join Emma’s dirty white. “You need some classes. Want me to teach you?”

She rose the pitch, the inflection, at the end, voice dropping just a second before and she saw Emma’s flush creep up the younger woman’s neck before the blonde’s eyes raked through her form as she kept her approach. She should back away, a voice in her head whispered hotly: the same voice that had always kept her mute and silent as she had seen the progressive deterioration of Emma’s psyche. The same voice that had redeemed her unworthy.

She battled against the voice, fixing the smirk in place while she slid her free hand over the blinders, up until she grasped the miraculously still standing bottle of beer. The glass of the bottle was still cold, and the liquid sloshed inside as she rose it, too quickly for Emma’s still dazed look. As soon as the blonde realized what was happening, however, she tightened her jaw, the magic turning lighter on her fingers, almost starkly white.

“Regina.”

It was a plea but Regina herself wasn’t entirely sure if Emma knew what for. Taking a sip of the beer, she put her own stick down and circled her, pressing one flat palm between the blonde’s shoulder blades.

“Relax.” Her voice was lower than it was necessary but there were still eyes around them and as much as she was enjoying her game with the younger woman she still felt herself at edge. “Just let me.”

It came to her that she wasn’t entirely sure what she was talking about anymore either and as she felt Emma’s sweat beneath the tank top she found herself battling against the idea of turning the palm into a fist, bunching the fabric and yanking it closer to her still. The image was quick and brusque and dissolved into nothingness the second she blinked but Emma seemed to sense a change on her own magic as she arched her back just slightly, enough for Regina to feel the movement of muscles beneath the fabric.

With a chuckle that spoke of nerves but thrill, Emma twisted her neck, glancing at her with strained muscles and tendons, shoulders still locked in place.

“I don’t think helping me is fair to you. If I lose, I lose.”

Regina narrowed her eyes at that but nodded, her magic burning beneath her skin as she took a step backwards and let her hand fall to her side, her flesh tingling.

“Very well.” She replied, reaching for the blonde’s hair and rearranging it so a few locks remained trapped beneath the woman’s ear. Her next words came to her before she was able to edit them, to change them, and she wondered for a second how much of Roni was truly left, how much she was using without realizing it. “Don’t say I didn’t try to help.”

Emma hummed and stepped away, turning and retrieving the still half-full beer with a far too slow movement that made both jump.

“Thank you.”


End file.
